engleski

Mineral composition of walnuts – a powerful vegan food

Introduction: Walnuts contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, vitamines and are good source of dietary minerals. Thus, the incorporation of walnuts into the human diet is highly desirable, e.g. for positive effect the heart, skin and circulatory system. Furthermore it is a powerful source of proteins in vegan diet. Whereas the organic compounds are well studied, there are only rare data on the mineral composition of the walnuts. Methods: Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used for the determination of the elemental composition of walnuts. In the present study selected major and minor elements are determined in dried and homogenised walnuts after digesting in a closed microwave assisted digestion system using nitric acid. Results: The minerals Ca, K and Mg are present in the nuts at mg/g level, whereas the other elements (essential and non essential) are present in µg/g level. Discussion: Considering major and minor essential elements walnuts are a good dietary source of essential metals in addition to the organic compound contained. Apart from the beneficial content of essential elements, the obtained results show that the potentially toxic trace elements are present in most of the investigated walnuts samples below the maximum allowed values.

walnuts ; minerals ; ICP-AES ; composition

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